Location
Queens, NY
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Aside from the damsels (Chrysiptera), and herbivores, (tangs and the algae blenny), what other fish can one keep that requires almost no care or direct feeding? Going to really limit the food input into my setup and looking for fish that will forage on their own, with only supplemental feedings at most once every other day or twice a week.
Supplemental feedings would probably be powdered food meant for corals so I plan on feeding the system from the of the bottom of food web, up.
I'm going to assume most species that feed in the water column are out. I'm not sure about wrasses (6-line or cory), dartfish or dottybacks (royal gramma) though, are these considered pure carnivores?
 

Reef_Paddy

Always Thinkering
Location
NJ
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I have 2 bhangai cardinals that I found in my sump and refugium about 6 months ago. I guess the parents got jiggy and these 2 offspring somehow many it into the overflow. I have not fed the babies since I found them and no idea how long they have been in there. I guess they are living off the pod population and whatever floats from the DT there.
 

reefiness

Advanced Reefer
Location
Staten Island
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As Paul said the only fish I know of that I would consider no maintenance under the right conditions is a Mandarin dragonet. They generally only eat pods although some have gotten them to eat frozen and even pellets like my fat female does. As long as your tank is old enough and big enough the pod population is all the Mandarin needs. Granted an occasional couple pellets added to the tank maybe weekly will help feed the pods.
 

llobrao

Advanced Reefer
Location
Bronx, NY
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Started saltwater in 1999 hardcore reefing for the past 5 years I thought the whole limiting food going in our tanks was a myth, feeding my tanks kinda made them look better, of course not going crazy! Anyways that said tangs and Angel seems to hold them selfs down but still need to feed that Algae that needs to grow and my mandaring like they stated above never ate what I offered in about 4 years pods all day
 
Last edited:
Location
Queens, NY
Rating - 100%
98   0   0
I'd want to add a royal gramma and a 6-line in, but in the past I found that a 6-line that gets hungry will start hitting the shrimps. I've never seen a 6-line what wasn't well fed, so I know he'll do well foraging, but I'd rather keep many shrimps than a single wrasse. The royal gramma, I feel will waste away without feeding. The cardinals, I know need lots of food to get into breeding condition. Yes I think I may expand into the gobies, something small, maybe a variety of them. I've never had a dragonette, perhaps that could be my goal.

As for why I'm limiting food input? In my last set up, just like everyone else, I had 1 tang. It ate some algae and kept everything clean, then I added another tang and fed it food because there wasn't enough algae for it to eat. The added food grew more algae, then I added another and another tang to control algae, till in the end I had a tank full of algae growth and many fat tangs. In the end my stony corals reef, was eventually replaced by soft corals and algae. A school of 6 yellow tangs was nice, but not what I intended in the beginning.
 

albano

Saltwater since 1973
Staff member
Rating - 100%
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Other than an occasional cleaning, these are easy to keep...
A3ADAEEF-2FA9-4EF7-AA2A-4A879BEB4BCB.jpeg
 

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